With this collection of the latest projects and most representative architectural designs by Mario Cucinella Architects, the book investigates possible solutions that architecture can provide in answer to the global challenges in the present and near future. Through these works, and the research carried out by one of Italy’s foremost architects, who has always focussed on building sustainability, Building Green Futures presents an important reflection on some of the crucial questions regarding urban development all over the world. There are two key issues to address these issues: the first deals with the relationships with the past and the constructive strategies man has adopted in every latitude, drawing on the great capacity for adaptation and knowledge that we will need to face the challenges of our era. But Cucinella urges us to go even further, directing his research towards the plant world, the second important field of investigation developed in this book, in order to discover similarities and draw inspiration for a future that is coherent with the climate and the environment.

Like buildings, plants do not travel, but over centuries they have developed a huge capacity for adapting themselves to every context and the resources available. Thanks to the creativity of their designers, buildings of the past were also able to adapt by using resources like the wind, sun, rain and local materials. Despite technological development, these aspects are all ingredients that remain a renewable constant today.

A voyage towards a future that comes from afar, from a past that crosses a range of latitudes, climates, cultures, and technical capacity developed by mankind over time: on this way the book explains the concept of projects by Mario Cucinella Architects, new forms of architecture, that express empathy with climate, place, history and the communities they represent, presented in this publication in the form of a metaphorical reading linking the plant world and architecture.

Each project is described through images, drawings, and in-depth analysis that provide different levels of interpretation.